Val Kilmer

Season 6, Episode 611

Original Airdate: November 5, 2001

Born New Years Eve 1959 in Los Angeles, California, Val Kilmer studied acting at the Hollywood Professional School and Juilliard before going directly to the New York stage.

His first appearance was in How It Began, a play he and his classmates wrote and performed that was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1983, Kilmer made his Broadway debut opposite Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon in Slab Boys.

His first film role was starring in the 1984 Zucker-Abahams-Zucker spoof Top Secret, where he did his own singing and even cut an album as pop singer-turned-spy Nick Rivers. During the 1980's, he appeared in Real Genius (1985), Top Gun (1986), Willow (1988) and Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid (1989).

In 1991, Kilmer moved onto the Hollywood A-list with his performance in Oliver Stone's The Doors. Once again did his own singing and received great reviews for his eerily dead-on portrayal of rock legend Jim Morrison. Since then he has played two more American legends, Elvis, in True Romance (1993) and Doc Holiday, in Tombstone (1993). In 1992, he starred as a Native American FBI agent in Thunderheart.

Kilmer returned to the stage in 1993 in the Public Theatre's production of 'Tis Pity She's A Whore. In 1995, he starred as the Caped Crusader in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995). Other films include Heat (1995) with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino.